How To Become An Industrial Hygiene Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an industrial hygiene technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Industrial hygiene technicians identify health hazards within the workplace, including air quality, noise emissions, and ionic radiation. They devise measures to reduce the impacts on employee health and well-being. This position involves a combination of analytical expertise and leadership because industrial hygienists also work closely with management to provide reports and make suggestions to improve environmental safety.

Industrial hygiene technicians' daily duties and responsibilities include reviewing and evaluating work environments and design programs to prevent disease and injuries by physical, chemical, and ergonomic factors. They also conduct inspections and enforce the necessary caution in accordance with the laws governing health and safety. You can usually see them working for the public or private sector.

Usually, industrial hygiene technicians hold at least a bachelor's degree in a related discipline such as industrial hygiene, environmental science, or mechanical engineering. Additionally, workers in this position require at least four years of technical experience to obtain certification by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene or the ABIH. The annual average salary for this role is $71,780.

ScoreIndustrial Hygiene TechnicianUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $51,966

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.23%

Asian 5.66%

Black or African American 10.04%

Hispanic or Latino 14.27%

Unknown 6.18%

White 62.62%

Gender

female 24.16%

male 75.84%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an industrial hygiene technician

Explore industrial hygiene technician education requirements

Most common industrial hygiene technician degrees

Bachelor's

60.4 %

Associate

18.2 %

Master's

9.7 %

Start to develop specific industrial hygiene technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Asbestos	12.56%
OSHA	10.61%
Air Quality	6.00%
Hazardous Materials	4.73%
Occupational Safety	4.68%

Complete relevant industrial hygiene technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New industrial hygiene technicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an industrial hygiene technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real industrial hygiene technician resumes.

Research industrial hygiene technician duties and responsibilities

Participate in then lead IAQ investigations, participate then lead safety training sessions for a wide variety of topics.
Oversee and manage multidimensional abatement/remediation projects in accordance with OSHA and EPA regulations.
Maximize productivity through coordinating and managing efforts between service engineers, sales personnel and external OEM automation programmers.
Point of contact for IH concerns and PPE (personal protective equipment) selection at the site and especially during turnaround.

Prepare your industrial hygiene technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your industrial hygiene technician resume.

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